java.lang.NullPointerException: null

using jruby-1.6.5 in 1.9 mode and 1.8 mode

I seem to be having trouble gettting
text_edit = Sikuli::App.new("TextEdit")
to actually open the application

When I run the specs I get about 4 of these type of errors .
java.lang.NullPointerException: null

1. Sikuli::Region#Typeable modifying text input with apple key
   Failure/Error: @region = app.window
   NativeException:
   java.lang.NullPointerException: null

   org/sikuli/script/Region.java:56:in `'

   sun/reflect/NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.java:-2:in`newInstance0'

   sun/reflect/NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.java:39:in `newInstance'

   sun/reflect/DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.java:27:in`newInstance'

   java/lang/reflect/Constructor.java:513:in `newInstance'

   ./lib/sikuli/region.rb:29:in`initialize'

   ./lib/sikuli/app.rb:30:in `window'

   ./spec/sikuli/typeable_spec.rb:7:in`(root)'